On the second day after his release, Gami was greeted by the Post-Released Monitoring (PRM) team who was based in the northern area of the Kehje Sewen Forest. Gami’s day started very abruptly when he was woken up by the sounds of a swarm of bees. No one wants a bee attack for an alarm clock and Gami was no exception to this. Right away, Gami began to long call as he was forced to flee from his nest. 

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Once he escaped the angry swarm, Gami's movements became slow and relaxed as he started to explore the forest. This was a relief for the monitoring team who were confined to following him from the forest floor. However, this tranquil portion of his morning soon came to an end when Gami realised our team's presence and took swift action to escape their prying eyes.

Unable to keep up, the team lost Gami and had to scour the area for him. After four long hours and no success, the crestfallen team decided to return to camp. Halfway through the journey home, the team heard a very familiar-sounding long call. They followed the bellowing song of the jungle and encountered Gami! This time he was close to the location where another PRM team was observing female orangutan Eliona. Although these two orangutans did not interact, they were very close, a mere 150 metres apart.

Gami's primary activity was, unsurprisingly, resting while chewing on some young leaves. To protect its face from the rain, this huge orangutan created rudimentary umbrellas out of the leaves of the Pacific walnut tree (Dracontomelon dao). 

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As time passed, Gami moved through the canopy, slowly but steadily, frequently shifting to trees dense young leaves. When the evening set in, he decided to build its sleeping nest and once he was settled into his nest, Gami emitted several long calls and finally went to sleep.

The monitoring team started their last trek of the day, to bring them home to the camp as they reflected on Gami’s second day in the forest. It had revealed that this cheek-padder was adjusting well to his new wild and free life, demonstrating awe-inspiring resilience. Gotta love Gami!

Text by: PRM Team at Camp Lesik, Kehje Sewen Forest, East Kalimantan